A guide on the side

Medical professor enlists his students as active partners in quest for knowledge

“Knowledge is something you acquire; it’s a lifelong process. I feel I might be more effective if I pass along whatever knowledge I have and let
them use it to solve their own problems. Education is the best teacher and the best
medication.” — Thomas Nathaniel, 2019 Garnet Apple Award winner

You won’t find Thomas Nathaniel’s clinical neuroscience students passively watching PowerPoint lecture slides or their professor droning at a lectern.

That’s becauseNathaniel, a professor at the University of South Carolina’s School of Medicine-Greenville,
takes a different approach to teaching and learning.

“I believe that my students are adult learners. Most of them have gone through a lot
in their lives, and some of them come from difficult backgrounds,” says Nathaniel, a founding faculty member of the school, which welcomed its first students in 2012.
“My job is to help them navigate medical school by allowing them toplay majorrolesin the learning process.”

Nathaniel, director of the school’s clinical neuroscience module, often puts the students in
small groupswhere they become major players in the learning process. He gives them the details
on actual clinical cases involving neurodegenerative diseases and asks them to look
for clinical solutions.

“They learn together, and they learn from each other,” he says. “I am just a facilitator
of their learning process.”

Nathanielis keenly interested in providing his students with a foundational understanding of
various neurological diseasessuch as dementia, stroke and Alzheimer’s thathis students might encounter in residencyandbeyond.

“We want our students to understand where the problem is in the brainfor each particular disease or condition. If you know where the problem is, then you have an idea where the medication can target it,” he says.

Nathanielhas taken his student-led learning approach beyond the School of Medicine, introducing
middle school students in the Greenville area to the same concept. The goal there
is educate middle schoolers on the prevention and treatment of stroke.

“Every one of those sixth- and seventh-graders has a grandparent or a mom ordad, andit’s paramount that they knowwhat todo if something happens,” he says. “They need to learn to recognize the signs of stroke
and call 911 if there’s a problem.”

Instead of seeking out science classes in the middle schools where he’s conducting
theoutreach, Nathanielgoes to the fine arts classes and, afterbriefinstruction, encourages the students to develop stroke education programs.

“Some of them do a video. One did a project on not sitting down so much, even demonstrating
a non-sedentary way of playing video games,” he says. “The goal is for them to be
active learners, to become their own teacherstoward the goal of achieving a healthy lifestyle.”

Nathanielcredits an uncle with sparking his interest in teachingmany years ago. After showing him the buildings on his own college campus in Nigeria, the uncle
informed him that the acquisition of learning never stops.

“Knowledge is something you acquire; it’s a lifelong process,”Nathanielsays. “I feel I might be more effective if I pass along whatever knowledge I have
and let them use it to solve their own problems. Education is the best teacher and
the best medication.”

Garnet Apple Awards

The Garnet Apple Award honors exceptional faculty who demonstrate an ongoing commitment
to best teaching practices and a record of developing innovative strategies to enhance
learning. Up to six full-time faculty members from the Columbia and Palmetto College
campuses receive this award each year.